University of Northern Iowa

The University of Northern Iowa track meet began on Friday with the pentathalon. We had 4 girls compete in the pentathalon, which is long jump, high jump, 60 m hurdles, shot put, and 800. It's all in one day, and once the event is over, the girls have 30 minutes until the next event starts. It's a pretty gruelling event. For 3 of the girls, this was their first pentathatlon. The highlights of the day were Kathie-Lee winning the high jump at 5'10", which not only broke the school record, but it also gives her a tie for the leading jump in the nation as of now. Another highlight was Sami winning the 800, the fifth and final event for the day.

The rest of the team headed up to UNI on Saturday morning. After loading the bus at 6:00 a.m. and sitting on a bus (leather seats, wood floors, and 21 inch tv's) for five hours, the UNO Track and Field team put up some big results on Saturday too. Anja broke the school record in the 600 meters (1:34), and Denniel Shaw got first in the long jump (18'8"), qualifying her for the NCAA Indoor National Track and Field Meet. Maja got 2nd in the 60 (7.66), and Heather got 2nd in the shot put (46').

It was definitely a better weekend for me. I ran the 60 and the 200. And oh how I wish some of you guys could see me start the 60. My blocks are by far the worst part of my race, and it usually isn't too noticable in the 400, but in the 60....oh my. I have to work incredibly hard to catch up with everyone, and by that time, the race is over. Ha ha. THE 60 IS SO SHORT! It was a little comical to me because when we finished the race, all the girls were bent over trying to catch their breath as if they just ran a marathon...I turned to my trainer and said, "that was amazing!" I ended up making finals and finishing 4th in the 60...quite unbelievable for a long sprinter. And as far as the 200, I don't even know. They messed up the results and times, so nobody really knows what the true results were, but I had a really good 200 and finished in the top 3.

We have a big week of preparation this week. We head down to Lincoln on Friday and Saturday for the Frank Sevigne Invitational, which is one of the premier meets in the country for indoor track and field. The next couple of weeks are big track meets with big opportunities; I'm trusting it all comes together for the 400.